- Philadelphia Power Up Corps
- BEAD Funding Challenges Persist
- Digital Govt. Services Leave 1 in 10 Behind
- Massachusetts Infrastructure Progress Tool
- Alabama School District Teaches Families AI
PHILADELPHIA POWER UP CORPS
The city of Philadelphia’s Office of Innovation and Technology (OIT) has launched the Power Up Tech Corps, a volunteer program to expand digital skills in the community.
Residents can apply to participate in one of two open cohorts: the first is for youth ages 14-17 and the second is for adults. Cohort members will undergo screening, orientation and training before placement. These volunteers will also have access to networking events and career-building experiences.
OIT aims to place more than 30 volunteers across at least 10 partner sites in the program’s pilot year.
The Power Up Tech Corps is intended to complement and expand OIT’s current digital equity initiatives. For example, its Digital Navigator network offers free classes. The city also offers free public Wi-Fi at certain recreation centers, older adult centers, parks and libraries. And the Power Up Tour provides a monthly laptop giveaway.
“We’re looking at digital empowerment, driving initiatives that broaden resident access to technology,” the city’s CIO, Melissa Scott, said recently.
BEAD FUNDING CHALLENGES PERSIST
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is hosting a listening session related to Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program funding on Feb. 11 at 11 a.m. PST.
The listening session, “The Use of BEAD Funds Saved Through the Trump Administration’s Benefit of the Bargain Reforms,” will be virtual. It is intended to help NTIA gather input from stakeholders to inform future policy development regarding the use of non-deployment funds, which were initially approved by Congress to support activities ranging from upgrading 911 connectivity to expanding digital literacy training.
The future of those non-deployment funds has come into question following a December presidential executive order on AI, which threatened to withhold congressionally approved non-deployment funding from states that enact AI policies. But uncertainty around this funding first emerged when the BEAD program’s changes were announced last year.
“This is a great opportunity to show up and share with NTIA why keeping to the original [Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act] text with eligible uses for BEAD Non-Deployment dollars, and allowing states to fund projects under the category, ‘broadband adoption, including programs to provide affordable internet-capable devices,’ is ESSENTIAL to reaching the Agency’s universal connectivity goals,” the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) said in a blog.
NDIA, with its partner Public Knowledge, created talking points for NDIA affiliates and other digital inclusion advocates to use at this session.
DIGITAL GOVT. SERVICES LEAVE 1 IN 10 BEHIND
A new report reveals a challenge in accessing government services for the 1 in 10 U.S. residents who do not own a computer.
The Digitunity report highlights how government services are moving online. This includes online enrollment for federal assistance programs like Medicare, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Many processes for veterans to access services such as disability compensation and housing assistance are online. This divide also impacts education access, as submitting the Free Application for Federal Student Aid online is an annual financial aid requirement for postsecondary education.
Even “everyday civic services,” as the report describes them, like driver’s license renewals and vehicle registration, are now largely completed digitally. The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission no longer prints licenses or identification documents in person, for example; they are processed online.
The report highlights that 7.1 million U.S. residents have no access to the most common Internet-enabled devices, and 25.8 million rely only on a smartphone to get online. Digitunity’s analysis of U.S. census data indicates that about 13.3 percent of all households lacked access to any device or relied on a smartphone to get online in 2024. The share of people without a computer has stayed at around 10 percent of the population since 2021.
MASSACHUSETTS INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRESS TOOL
The Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) has launched an Infrastructure Progress Dashboard. This is the first version of the tool, which aims to improve transparency around the progress on publicly funded broadband deployment.
Users can find information here on how to use the dashboard, which is powered by Esri. It was last updated on Wednesday.
ALABAMA SCHOOL DISTRICT TEACHES FAMILIES AI
Digital skills training is no longer just about using the Internet. AI is widening existing inequities, even as it is already being integrated into classrooms.
In Tuscaloosa City Schools, a district in Alabama, a free community event last week offered families a chance to learn about AI. The AI Literacy for Families event offered the public a chance to learn and talk about AI, and to test out the technology with hands-on activities for kids and adults.
The event aimed to help educate the community about how AI technologies can support learning, and what responsible use of AI entails. The event was open to the community and held at the Tuscaloosa Public Library.
